Oregon State visit the Arizona Wildcats The Arizona Wildcats (13-11, 7-5) have been on a resurgence of late and have won six of their last nine in Pac-10 play. One of those recent losses, however, came at the hands of Oregon State on January 14th. The Beavers (10-13, 4-7) will complete their two-game southwest road trip with a return visit to Tucson on Saturday night. Oregon State, coming off a 56-46 loss at Arizona State, have struggled mightily on the road this season. The Beavers have lost eight of ten games on their travels, and are losers of five of six road games in conference play. Their lone Pac-10 road victory came against arch-rivals Oregon 64-57 on January 10th. If the Beavers are to turn around their dismal road form, they will have to rely on junior Calvin Haynes and senior Seth Tarver. Haynes, a 6'2" guard from Southern California, has led the Beavers in scoring in five of their last seven contests. On a team that averages only 59 points per game, Haynes must continue to shoot the ball well from the outside if the Beavers are going to spring the upset. Despite Seth Tarver's relatively small frame at 6'5", he has led the Beavers with 4.7 rebounds per game. Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy found in effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.And last season, Tarver became the first Oregon State player to lead the conference in steals since Gary Payton did so in 1990. With Arizona standing just one game behind conference leaders California, the Wildcats still holds aspirations for earning an NCAA bid. The Pac-10 has become crowded at the top with six teams within two games of Cal's marginal lead. Arizona will look to stay within range as they search for their tenth home win. They have been 9-3 at home in the McKale Center this season, and a January loss to Washington State is the only thing keeping Arizona from owning a perfect home record in conference play. 5'10" guard Nic Wise has enjoyed a tremendous season for the Wildcats, serving as the only senior on a young, inexperienced team. Wise has averaged 15.3 points per game, but has more importantly amassed a 1.47 assist to turnover ratio from his point guard position. Freshman forward Derrick Williams has also lived up to his potential as he leads the team in points (15.5) and rebounds (7.0). Williams will work down low with Jamelle Horne in a partnership that has averaged over 25 points per game in Pac-10 play. The Wildcats are in a transitional season with new head coach Sean Miller but they have turned themselves into a viable Pac-10 contender following a disappointing set of non-conference games. The Wildcats only significant non-conference win came against the ACC's NC State (14-11, 2-8) and they, like the rest of the Pac-10, will consider themselves in a battle for the conference's likely single bid.
Watch the Wildcat faithful LIVE on FCS Pacific at 8:00pm ET this Saturday as they hope to push their young team to a fifth straight home victory. http://documentslide.com/documents/sherlyn-popelka-bio.html